Paul McCartney's 'New' Triumph

'New" (Hear Music),
Paul McCartney's
latest album, is another high point in the lengthy career of the man who was the most talented musician in rock and pop's greatest band. It's also a reminder that Mr. McCartney has crafted an admirable solo career since 1970. What he did best then he does again now.

The 71 year old moves ahead on the new recording by drawing on his past and placing it in a contemporary context. For his first album of new material since "Electric Arguments," the terrific 2008 disc he recorded as the Fireman, Mr. McCartney chose to work with no fewer than four producers, each more than a quarter-century his junior:
Paul Epworth,
who produced
Adele
and
Bruno Mars
;
Ethan Johns,
who oversaw albums by the Vaccines and the Kings of Leon; executive producer
Giles Martin,
who worked with the surviving Beatles on the remix album "Love" for Cirque de Soleil; and Mark Ronson, who produced albums for Christina Aguilera and Amy Winehouse.

Mr. McCartney has a long history with Mr. Martin, whose father, George, produced most of the Beatles' albums. Mr. Johns's father, Glyn, worked on "Let It Be" and with Mr. McCartney during his Wings period. As for Mr. Ronson, he was the DJ at Mr. McCartney's 2011 wedding to Nancy Shevell. Mr. Epworth was the wild card. When Mr. McCartney gave him a batch of his latest compositions, Mr. Epworth suggested they set them aside and jam, much as Mr. McCartney did with the producer known as Youth on "Electric Arguments."

While Mr. McCartney is the dominant presence on each track, not only for his voice and compositions but also his characteristic spot-on work on guitar and as a brilliant bassist, each producer nudges him toward his best instincts: His writing is focused, the tracks are tight and to the point; whatever affection he has for the occasional bit of treacle has been boxed away. Here Mr. McCartney is placed squarely in the best possible environment. Chiming acoustic guitars form most platforms on "New," along with washes of synthesizers applied with discretion. Modern beats and sounds enrich the surroundings, entering without intruding.

The three McCartney-Epworth tracks show how Mr. McCartney's many talents are as abundant as ever, and how well he's been served by his willingness to experiment and modernize. "Save Us," the ideal album opener, powers along on the strength of fat drumming and Mr. McCartney's relentless bass. The flood of booming synthesized percussion and bottom-heavy sounds that provide the platform for "Road" foreshadow its dark twists. As for "Queenie Eye," it's unfair to burden any new work by Mr. McCartney with his legacy, but had this song appeared on "Magical Mystery Tour" or "The Beatles," it would have been among those albums' best tracks.

It's natural to recall older bits when listening to "New": How can Mr. McCartney sound like anyone but himself? Inspired by his wife, the title track has a bouncy "Revolver" vibe with its horns, handclaps and harpsichordlike sounds. Mr. Ronson, an aficionado of old-school soul, adds a honking baritone saxophone to the mix. It also includes a delightful vocal interlude and fade-out that recall a cappella groups from the early 1960s. ("Alligator," with an underpinning perhaps too much like Pretty Lights' "Around the Block," also uses a vocal breakdown as its centerpiece.) Produced by Mr. Johns, the brooding "Hosanna" features psychedelic loops under Mr. McCartney's folk guitar and rounded bass. On "Everybody Out There," a chipper tune with a biting lyric, Mr. McCartney plays a 12-string guitar, an instrument the Beatles featured on its folk-rock tracks. The guitars Mr. McCartney plays on "Looking at Her" bring to mind several Beatles' cuts—"Drive My Car," to name one—but here Mr. Martin places them, and Mr. McCartney's voice, in a contemporary squall of synthesized percussion and strings.

Mr. McCartney's most overt nod to the past comes in "Early Days," a song that chastises Beatles revisionists. "Now everybody seems to have their own opinion of who did this and who did that," he sings, amid a brace of folk guitars. "But as for me I don't see how they can remember when they weren't where it was at." It's the story of friends "dressed in black from head to toe with two guitars slung across our backs." He adds: "And they can't take it from me if they tried 'cause I lived through those early days."

Mr. McCartney's monumental past informs "New," to be sure. But what makes the album a triumph and a particular treat is how great the former Beatle sounds now. It reminds us that in rock and pop the best may be yet to come, even from someone we've known so well for so long.

Mr. Fusilli is the Journal's rock and pop music critic. Email him at jfusilli@wsj.com or follow him on Twitter @wsjrock.

The Beatles (together with their producer, George Martin) were better than their individual components. You can argue all day long whether one was better than another, but they were all imaginative, creative musicians who, when they came together, made better music than any one of them produced after they broke up. McCartney's latest album is good and proves his recognized talents as an excellent musician and composer, but it sounds very much like all his other stuff. But I can say that McCartney's live show is a triumph of entertainment -- If you can get tickets, go see him perform, and you will be blown away.

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